Getting my fix on

The photo is kind of crummy, but it was taken during my evening run today.

I missed my run with my training group tonight because I ended up staying late at the office. I figured it wouldn't be worth taking the drive to Chicago from Waukegan when I only had an hour to get there.

Because I missed the group run, I had an intense urge to get out there to run no matter what time it was. There was no way I was missing this today. I had to get my fix on.

I ended up starting around 7 p.m. and went out for a sixty minute run- about six miles. The temperature was near 50F and there was a glorious drizzle out there making for a perfect run.

Well... near perfect.

I just about turned my ankle on a pot hole near the end, but I was able to recover and no harm done. I guess I just dropped my guard for a quick second and missed seeing the hole. The low battery on my head lamp didn't help either.

It helps that I have strong ankles, I guess.

That's what many miles of pounding pavement with the feet will do to you.

So now I rest

See more photos of my run on my Flickr.

Since May 2nd of this month, here is the breakdown of my training so far for Rockford:

May 2: 2.5 miles
May 3: 10 miles
May 7: 8 miles
May 8: 2.5 miles
May 10: 11 miles
Total: 34 miles

I'm tired.

My legs have been constantly sore this past week leading up to today. My mileage has increased from running 12 to 16 miles a week to over 25 in preparation for the half-marathon. Still, I'm happy with my accomplishments. It wasn't until my last 11 mile training run that I started to feel a painful twinge in my left knee, but I think it had to do with me being all tensed up and not pacing myself correctly. Once I relaxed near mile 5, the rest of my run was pain free- for the most part anyway.

Running with sore leg muscles is insanely difficult, especially when the runs are on consecutive days. I don't think I'm hydrating properly, or stretching enough on my rest days to counter the soreness. The tiredness goes away once I'm 2 to 3 miles into my run, but it's the start that is freakin' painful. I can't imagine how the road to 26.2 miles and the Chicago Marathon is going to be. I better stop whining about it while I'm ahead, I guess.

So now I rest. Next week I only run a total of seven miles to stay loose, and to keep fresh for Sunday. I'm traveling to Rockford the day before, and staying at a local hotel since the start time is 7 a.m.

On a side note: My trip to Rockford may be in jeopardy since finding out I will have to work on Saturday to install this beast - part of a major system upgrade my company is doing. Even if I don't make it on Sunday, I'll be OK with it. My journey to running Chicago will be long, and I have a lot of time left until October. I'll just keep going.

See you soon, my friends.

Happy Easter!

----->
Sent with a Sprint Palm Centro Smartphone

Hard Hat Man

It's not too often I get to wear hard hats...they rock.

Checking out the progress of our IT network at our Pleasant Plairie, WI warehouse.

----->
Sent with a Sprint Palm Centro Smartphone

I can dream, can't I?

This is what I came home to this past Wednesday- nearly 12 inches of snow near my home.

At last, I'm finally getting back to some sort of normalcy this week after dealing with the darn weather, busy days at the office, and general craziness. Not to mention, because of the darn weather, it's been a struggle to keep my training for the half-marathon on track.

I was able to squeeze in two miles on the dreadmill last Monday, and six miles outside today. That's a total of eight, and I should be at thirteen for the week. Blegh. All is not lost, as my down time was spent strength training on those snow days.

I'm really not a winter person. If it wasn't for my training, I would go absolutely nuts. Every day I wake up, I plan as much as I can for the day to make it go by faster.

I live for warmer weather- the camping, running outside, fishing, driving to remote places, roller coasters, barbecues, outdoor concerts, festivals, driving with the windows down, t-shirts and shorts, beaches, the sand, sunburns....

I can dream, can't I?

My Week In Photos: Day 4 Thursday

Cookie
Week: Jan. 28, 2008



This is Cookie.

He lives for treats.

He's always the first to meet me at the door when I come home because he knows I'm going to give him a couple of treats. He's of the tabby type and he's been around for quite some time.

He loves warm places and soft things to sit on. He's mostly a nice cat, but seems to have a short temper and can get a little too friendly when you pet him if he hasn't chewed your arm off first.

It's just in his nature, I guess.

My Week In Photos: Day 3 Wednesday

Gadgets Galore
Week: Jan. 28, 2008



(If you click on the photo, you'll be taken to my flickr page so you can mouse-over the various notes explaining what everything is.)

This is a small sampling of the various electronic gadgets I own. This isn't all of them mind you, since I have more at the office.

Most of these are now retired and call a comfy drawer their home. It must be tough being a gadget, since new models come out all of the time; second generation this, third generation that. I swear I have to take out a separate bank account to own the latest and greatest! But I love them so.

A little background on a few of them:

-Sony Clie UX50: This is the one that looks like a mini laptop, which is pretty much what it is. This PDA was WAY ahead of its time when it came out. This little guy is loaded with all kinds of stuff: wireless, bluetooth, voice recorder, camera, scroll wheel, color swivel screen, metal exterior... It was super expensive at the time and I was PISSED when Sony canceled the entire line about six months after it came out- PISSED! I vowed to never buy another Sony product again.

- Treo smartphones: This line of Palm smartphones paved the way for most of the fancy do-it-all phones you see today. The Treo 755P is the latest in the Treo line and is my favorite. I struggled for a time as to whether to replace my Treo with the beautiful iPhone, but I couldn't justify the funcionality. The Treo is a work horse and does a damn fine job at everything I throw at it.

- Palm Handspring Visor: My first ever PDA and did its duty for many years before it was replaced by the Sony UX50.

- iHome2go portable speakers: My iPod Nano slides into the front of this mini-speaker system powered by 3 AA batteries. This is my favorite gadget and I absolutely love to travel with it. It does a nice job of filling those lonely hotel rooms with my tunes!

Head over to my Flickr site to see a description of everything you see in the photo!

My Week In Photos: Day 2 Tuesday

Office Space
Week: Jan. 28, 2008



(If you click on the photo, you'll be taken to my flickr page so you can mouse-over the various notes explaining what everything is.)

A view of my office desk. What you don't see is the giant mess on either side of this photo. If I ever meet the guy who said technology will replace paper someday, I'd like to put my fist through his... well you know =)

The Treo smartphone you see in the photo is central to the other two systems you see here-my laptop and desktop computer. I'm not sure WHY I have both a computer tower AND a laptop to begin with, since the laptop will pretty much kick the towers ass any day, but they both serve a purpose in some way.

The Treo keeps all of my data synchronized between both. The phone also gives my laptop access to the internet no matter where I am. And since I'm responsible for my company's world wide data network, it's essential I have access everywhere!

It's geek speak, I know.

I kind of noticed that the wall in this picture is pretty bare aside from the post card thingy, so I have to brighten it up a bit. I also noticed that practically all of my gadgets match in color! Black is in, baby.

My Week In Photos: Day 1 Monday

(click photo to enlarge in Flickr)

Week: Jan. 28, 2008

This was taken just after finishing my 6 mile run at beautiful Independence Grove forest preserve in Libertyville, IL. on Sunday.

Part of my route took me along side the Des Plaines river and the midday sun was hitting the bridge just perfectly. One of my goals this year was to document my journey of training to run and finish the 26.2 miles of the 2008 Chicago marathon. I'd never run more than three miles in high school before this, so for me this is something I'd like to remember the rest of my life.

This photo, although actually taken on Sunday, will begin my seven days of posting an event or photo of my life each day of this week. Most of my posts will go up late in the day, so what you actually read in the morning would of taken place the day before- or something like that!

Seven Mile Milestone

I took on my longest run to date Saturday of seven miles. Both my Garmin Forerunner and Nike+ system calculated just over 7.5 miles, but that's OK by me. I had a great run!

I decided to run along Chicago's lakefront trail beginning in Lincoln Park at Irving Park Rd., with my turnaround point at 3.5 miles just north of Navy Pier at Oak Street beach. I've never run here before and I felt like a little lost kid in a giant park surrounded by skycrapers- a weird feeling considering I've been clocking six milers near home.

Don't get me wrong, it's convenient running near home, but the scenery is getting BORING! Plus, being around so many other runners in Chicago was a neat feeling.

Here's a photo I took near my turnaround point:



I've been blessed with relatively pain-free runs since my nagging knee issues late last year. During the last mile, my left ankle felt like a knife was being plunged into it and being wiggled around. Fortunately, it only lasted for about 15 steps and I took it as a sign that I needed new running shoes soon. I've had my current shoes for close to two years now, and it's time for a newer pair.

My maintenance training continues this week:

Mon: 2 miles easy
Tue: cross train/weights
Wed: 6 miles
Thu: Rest
Fri: cross train/weights
Sat: 7 miles
Total miles: 15

My actual training schedule for the Rockford Half Marathon won't start until the first week in February, and I'll be joining the Chicago Area Runner's Association half-marathon training program in mid-February.

Bring it on!

Ice Ice Baby

I was wondering why I was having trouble getting water from my bottle during my six mile run Saturday - it froze!

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 1:06:06
Date: Saturday, 12/29
Time: 11:30 a.m.
Temp: 23 deg.

I don't remember feeling as strong on my other long runs as I did on this one. I could of run forever the way I was feeling. Looking at the numbers, I find it hard to believe I ran for over one hour straight. The temperature was the lowest I've run in to date, which would explain my water bottle freezing up. As long as I was comfortable, I was good.

I have absolutely loved my outdoor runs this winter. Everything is so peaceful. Nothing moves at 23 degrees except the pavement beneath my feet and the occasional barking dog. My focus is so intense that I forget all of my troubles, and when I'm done, everything seems right with the world, at least for that moment. I wouldn't trade that for the world.

I also noticed that this makes 100 miles run since I started recording them in October! That's an incredible number, and a nice goal to wrap up 2007.

Some other running goals I've reached:

- Ran my first 5K race in September after not having run a competitive race since high school.

- Beat my first 5K's time by 1 minute, 34 seconds at my 2nd 5K in October.

- Finished my first 8K in 00:53:54.

- Reached 6 miles after thinking I'd never get past 3.

- Registered for my first 13.1 mile Half-Marathon in 2008.

- 100 miles, baby!

My 2008 goals, running and otherwise, soon...

Last day of class

1. Books- check.
2. Coffee- check.
3. Homemade cookies (thanks sis!)- check.
4. Stress- check.
5. Xbox 360 for break time- check.

Tomorrow is the last day of class for the year. Thank goodness.

----->
Sent with a Sprint Treo 755P Smartphone

Turkey Trot photos and random thoughts

(click photo to visit the photo gallery)

I've posted some photos of my run at the 5-mile Turkey Trot in Chicago's Lincoln Park on November 22, 2007. I had such a good time despite the cold temperatures and the falling snow. This is up there as one of the craziest things I've done to date!

The only problem I had was running into a lot of walkers on some of the smaller trails. The trails themselves, at least the gravel ones, were so soaked and muddy that I had to be careful not to do a faceplant while going over them. I was mostly taking care of my knee by doing 5-minute run/1-minute walks all the way through. No records here.

So hop on over to my Flickr site and check out the photos!

I ran 4 miles today in a heavy drizzle, and was done in about 50 minutes, just before a downpour! The $34,203,030 dollars I spent on my winter running gear really came through for me and kept me comfortable all the way through- it was bliss.

My knee has been feeling wonderful during my longer runs. For a while there, I was going crazy with only putting in a light run or two a week while babysitting it. So far so good! I've clocked close to 60 miles since I started recording my runs in early October (!) I really want to run the 5-mile Rudolph Ramble on December 9, and perhaps beat my previous 5-mile time.

Running has kept me happy. I've had many reasons to be unhappy as of late, and don't laugh as much as I used to. It has helped me answer questions I've had about myself. Truthfully, I think I am becoming a better person because of it.

Most of all, it has kept my spirits up when I stoop down to questioning if I matter at all. It is an emotion I try to avoid at all costs...

...at all costs.

Goodbye NaBloPoMo! It's been nice

(click photo to visit my Flickr gallery)

Well, I did it.

My official count was 28 posts in 30 days. I got started one day late, and I missed one other day. Not too shabby for National Blog Posting Month coming from only posting a couple of days a week.

It's been frustrating, maddening, therapeutic, calming, nerve wrecking, and satisfying all at once. I even learned a few things about myself along the way, and no doubt you probably did too. Not only that, but I have some new-found friends as well.

So I will continue to blog here; probably not every single day, but often. I'm on a roll, why stop now?

So for my last post of this month, I will celebrate with my fellow NaBloPoMo bloggers in posting 7 random and weird things about myself:

1. I experimented with smoking a cigarette when I was younger with my best friend in his garage only because we both thought it was cool. I thought nothing of it and thought it was dumb, so I never picked up the habit. My friend, on other hand, became a smoker.

2. I once choked on a candy Life Saver that went down my airway while I was sucking on it laying in bed. My mom had to force it out. The only way I could breathe was through the little hole.

3. I don't like eating jelly filled donuts. At some point in my life I started eating a donut-type dessert that I thought was, well, a donut (without the hole of course), only to find out it had a gooey surprise in the center. I was scarred for life.

4. I failed a previous employers required hearing test at 18 years old. They said I had the hearing loss of a 30 year-old male at the time. Say what?

5. When I was younger, I wanted to grow up to be a fireman. I would set small fires on purpose only to put them out with a garden hose. Then I got my first computer- a TRS-80 my dad bought me at Radio Shack. I loved the thing! I started to program my own computer games, and thought that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Instead, when my computer broke, I fixed it myself, and the computer geek in me was born.

6. I once stayed for a few days at a friends farm in Tennessee and rode a cow. I was also dared to touch my tongue on the electric fence, that, my friends, was a no go.

7. I once had my own zoo in the back yard of a house I grew up in. I had bullfrogs, turtles, toads, a chameleon, and a couple of garter snakes. It wasn't until I tried to feed a chicken egg to the snakes that one bit me, so I let them go after a good cry.

Until next time!

Hitting the books.

It's test time.

Crossing fingers!

----->
Sent with a Sprint Treo 755P Smartphone

Blind, anyone?

Super-giant calculators.

Who needs these?

----->
Sent with a Sprint Treo 755P Smartphone

Rock Show night

Enjoying some Lake County area bands at Reggie's Live in Chicago.

Pictured is Dormlife.

----->
Sent with a Sprint Treo 755P Smartphone

Real Guitar Hero

My nephew Danny shredding Lamb of God on hard.

I'm not worthy.

----->
Sent with a Sprint Treo 755P Smartphone

Reliving the music

I was rummaging through photos on my hard drive when I ran across this image, which is a compilation of photos taken by myself and other photographers in 2002. This image was slightly modified and placed on this plaque that was presented to the City of Waukegan as thank you for their support of local musicians and artists at the time. The plaque was hung in a hallway at Waukegan City Hall.

It was nice to relive some of the best years of local music in the area by looking at this photo. The music scene was at its peak back then. It's a bit quieter nowadays, but the local bands are still there even though there aren't many places to play.

I would love to start up my band photography again, which was put on hiatus mainly because my camera is showing its age. Perhaps I'll look into getting a nicer one someday soon and hit up some shows to see how they turn out. I'm sure I'm a bit rusty!

Autumn Morning

These chilly autumn mornings always seem so drab
Why can't we just grow summer in a lab?
It's that last thread of my sanity I find hard to grab
And makes me crawl into my shell like a lowly hermit crab

photo and poem by:
J. Mendoza
11-6-07